Unit 8A terms 1

Cuban Missile Crisis

A 13-day confrontation in 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Bay of Pigs

A failed invasion of Cuba by CIA-trained Cuban exiles in 1961 to overthrow Fidel Castro's government.

Taft-Hartley Act

A U.S. federal law enacted in 1947 that restricted the power of labor unions.

United Nations (UN)

An international organization founded in 1945 to promote peace and cooperation among nations.

Berlin Airlift

A U.S. and British operation from 1948 to 1949 to supply West Berlin after the Soviet Union blocked land routes.

GI Bill

A U.S. law from 1944 providing benefits to World War II veterans, including education and housing assistance.

Iron Curtain

A term used by Winston Churchill to describe the division between Western Europe and the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance founded in 1949 between the U.S. and several Western European nations.

Korean War

A conflict from 1950 to 1953 between communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea.

Space Race

A competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union in space exploration from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. program that provided economic aid to Western Europe from 1948 to 1952 to prevent communism.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

A congressional committee that investigated alleged communist influence in the U.S. during the Cold War.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy aimed at preventing the spread of communism during the Cold War.

Fair Deal

President Harry Truman's domestic policy agenda introduced in 1949 aimed at expanding social security.

Rosenberg Case

The trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1951 for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. policy from 1947 pledging support to countries resisting communism, particularly Greece and Turkey.

Levittown

Mass-produced suburban housing developments in the U.S. beginning in 1947, symbolizing postwar suburbanization.

McCarthyism

A period of intense anti-communist suspicion in the 1950s led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Federal Highway Act of 1956

A law that funded the construction of the U.S. interstate highway system to improve transportation.

National Security Act of 1947

A U.S. law that reorganized military and intelligence agencies, creating the Department of Defense and the CIA.